Family Bonds
(A/N: I felt good and wanted to really try my ass off on this chapter, so I'll be releasing it today. Enjoy the chapter :).)
"I'll go..." I said, my voice strong and never wavering as I walked up to the magic circle and laid in the middle with my arms and legs spread out like I was strapped to an alter, well...
Magna took a few deep breaths before he immersed himself in a trance like state and began to chant in the same, strange language as before causing the blackish blood on the ground to slowly gain color, turning from black, to a scarlet, then to a bright, almost glowing, red. When the blood began to glow is started to slowly 'crawl' toward me until it covered me entirely, causing an unbelievable amount of pain to spread through my body as the blood seeped through my very pores, mixing with my own. The world felt like it was spinning as I laid there unable to scream as my insides felt like they were burning. I began to hallucinate, or so I thought, about a man with an almost sickly complexion carrying me on his back when I was a child. We passed by many straw houses and fields on our way to what seemed like a river, but when we got there we were attacked by bandits. They acted like I didn't even exist as the man dropped me unceremoniously and pleaded for his life. They began to beat him and club him after taking his money. With tears now building up in my eyes I closed my eyes and screamed. When I opened my eyes the bandits were all dead with strange blood-like spears impaling them into the ground, the man staring at me with fear etched into his face. He yelled at me, calling me a Demon spawn and cursing me. I was brought back to a small Village and was thrown in a jail cell before being sentenced to execution, until a beautiful woman with long, black hair, gentle blue eyes and a fair complexion appeared outside my cell and extended her hand to me, asking "Do you want to be free? I'll make sure that you can live how you want, and make friends." with the warmest smile imaginable. Tears began to flow down my eyes as I reached for her hand, my vision turning blurry before I could take her hand...
A wail of grief and pain erupted from my throat, the burning pain in my body becoming less that a dull ache when compared to the grief that I was feeling. I screamed and screamed with tears flowing down my eyes as I began to recall the memories I thought I had lost, I had even began to remember my mothers face and all the good times we had, and even my father who was always busy, I had memories of him smiling at me and laughing with me as I told him about my dreams. I remembered my friends that I had made in the small town of Silverbell, named after the Silver Clan that resided there, and I even remembered watching the town burn as a massive, grotesque dragon made of bones and muscles beat its powerful wings in the sky. I remembered the time when I was wandering alone, only for a small group of Elves to find me and take me in. They were so kind and friendly and always laughing. Until a Demon came and murdered them, not even sparing me a glance as he burned their bodies into ashes.
All of the pain and grief that I had felt in the past had now resurfaced as I came face to face with the past me saying "You're just a curse, a vile being who can never find peace and happiness. If you truly want to do something good then just die! You're only burdening everyone by being alive!" Visions of my friends popped into life in the cold, black space I was in, their words echoing around in my mind. "You're nothing to us! Die already! You monster!" I stayed floating in that black space for what felt like years, until I heard a soft voice say "Yuuki, you're not a monster. You're simply a boy who wants to be loved, but the one thing you fail to realize is that you are loved. You have so many people who want to see you live and be happy. I don't want you to become obsessed with revenge, I want you to focus on what you have now and live peacefully, that is my final wish. I love you, my son..." I spun around to see a faint image of my mother shrouded in a holy light as tears flowed down her cheeks, the same warm and loving smile on her face as she looked at me. I felt myself falling as I cried until I couldn't cry anymore. My vision returned and I found myself laying on the floor, the strange blood still sinking into my skin. There was no pain anymore, so I sat there and kept replaying the image of my mother smiling down at me, wishing that I had a happy life and not focused on revenge. At that moment, I felt my walls crumble along with my grief as I was engulfed by a strong sense of warmth. I looked back up at the ceiling and saw something I never expected to see. I saw my father looking down at me with a proud smile on his face, and his gentle words met my ears before he faded away.
"I love you, son. No matter what you become, you will always be our little boy..."
My vision blurred as I struggled to keep the tears at bay, but after hearing the words that I so desperately wanted to hear from my one and only father figure, I couldn't help it. My body was racked with quiet sobs as I watched my father turn around, the image of my mother by his side holding his hand as they walked towards the sky, bathed in an almost divine light kept me captivated. I balled my fist and made a silent vow. A vow to keep my new family safe and live a happy life like they would want me to, no matter what.
As I sat there, a new pain greeted me as I felt my bones twisting and reforming, creating stronger and more durable versions. The pain eventually reached my head as I felt something trying to burst through the top of my skull. Another scream tore its way through my throat, sounding almost feral. I thrashed around on the ground only to see that the sickly purple flames now bound my body to the ground, keeping me from moving. My vision started to turn a hazy red as I furiously tried to free myself. Magna entered my vision and began to speak words that I couldn't hear, but when his lips stopped moving, I felt a calming sensation enter my body, soothing the pain and making me feel extremely tired. I eventually calmed down and slowly began to drift into unconsciousness, the blood already finished entering my body, filling me with a strangely comforting power. The pain in my head felt like it was literally shrinking as it stabilized and turned into a dull ache. Just before I passed out, I heard voices and footsteps approaching me, so I gave the best smile I could before muttering words that I couldn't even hear myself.
"Thank you, guys. I'm truly grateful to have met you all..."
---
My eyes fluttered open and I was greeted by a familiar ceiling and bed, I turned my head to see everyone in my room passed out, either with their heads on the side of the bed, on the ground, or propped up against the wall. A gentle smile found its way to my face as I lightly Lyra's blonde hair, wondering why everyone was so worried about me. Lyra woke under my gentle touch and immediately turned scarlet and swatted my hand away before clearing her throat and announcing "Guys, he's awake!" while keeping her gazes averted. Everyone immediately jumped up and practically pounced on me while Kabuto actually started to tear up a little.
"Ahahaha, hey guys, I'm alive and well!" I said gently while patting Kabuto's back.
"Hey man, before you get all that happy, you might want to look in the mirror real quick." Adam said with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Yeah, ok? Why, is there something on my face, or is my hair all messed up?" I asked with a smirk, but everyone had a small frowns on their faces. I shook away the feeling I had in my gut and walked towards the standing mirror in the corner of my room. My usual tanned skin, midnight blue hair, and grey eyes were no more but instead replaces with pale white skin, raven black hair that spiked up, giving me a feral look, and scarlet eyes with snake-like pupils that gradually became darker until changing into a completely different color before repeating and two large canines that stuck out from my mouth. I still looked like myself, but now I looked more like I was a completely different race. I couldn't be a Demon because I had no horns. I began to feel all around my face while everyone's gazes were filled with concern or guilt. At least no one was afraid of me.
"Well, I will admit that I look weird, but at the same time I look kind of badass..." I said while testing the sharpness of my two overgrown canines.
Kabuto began to shake his head before laughing slightly, his laugh becoming louder before he said "That's just like Yuu, I can't believe I was worried about him, Ahahahahaha!" His words soon elicited responses from everyone, causing the room to burst into laughter.
I was soon caught up on everything that happened after I had finished the ritual. Everyone else had also gone through the ritual but no one had gone though the extreme change that I had, and because of that we were all given permission to rest and recuperate before coming back to learn, and potentially master, our forms of Demon Magic.
"Guys, you didn't have to go through with the ritual just because I did. I can't believe you all would do something so foolish, ahaha..." I said with a twinge of guilt and sadness gripping my heart, but that was quickly washed away.
"Now what kind of family would we be if we left you to bear this burden alone? Never forget that we're together in this." Kyrm said with his arms crossed, his gaze toward the window.
"That's right, Yuu, we're family and we can't let you do this alone. Got it?" Kabuto said with a smile as everyone else nodded their heads, adopting a smile of their own. I felt an unimaginable amount of warmth, joy, and happiness at that moment. I felt like I had truly found a family, one that will never break and will withstand all attempts to break it apart. I sighed and shook my head with a smile on my face as I took one last look at my new self in the mirror and then walked out of the door, heading toward the massive black building once again.
"Are you guys sure about this?" I asked with a bit of worry lacing my words.
Saya slapped my back and exclaimed "We already said that we would bear your burdens with you, so of course we want to get stronger to help, no matter what!" with a thumbs up.
"She's right. If you're going to refuse rest so you can learn your Demon Magic, then so will we. As a team, and a family." Senaris said with a small smile on her face. I threw my hands up in a surrendering gesture as we neared the black building. The inside was exactly how it was before with the purple flames lining the walls with Magna standing off to the side staring down into a crate with his hands behind his back.
"Yo, we're back." I said with a small wave.
Magna glanced back and appeared in front of me, his hand piercing my heart, or should I say my afterimage. I noticed that I was able to see where he was going ever so slightly and was able to move out of the way with a speed that I was I myself couldn't even comprehend as I smashed into the wall. Magna stifled a laugh as he coughed and said "Well, looks like out star pupil has successfully recovered. Now, I imagine you are here to learn your Demon Magics, tsk tsk. So impatient." He then moved towards the crate that he was previously looking at before and lifted it over his head like it was a feather and carried it over to us, after I extricated myself from the wall of course. The crate was an easy 5m all around and housed an assortment of weapons that gleamed with various colors.
The first person to pick a weapon from the crate was Kabuto and he went through a fair amount of shortswords before picking one that had an elven design with a grass-green blade, a tree shaped guard and a grip made of polished wood.
Next was Kyrm, who picked a massive grip meant for two handed weapons, but there was no blade. Kyrm looked at it for a little while before imbuing it with his mana, causing a large, fiery blade to pop out of the hilt.
Senaris had chose a pair of large daggers that looked like they were made of pure ice.
Adam chose a spear that was able to change into whatever weapon he wanted when he imbued his mana into it.
Verm had previously refused a weapon, and he did so this time as well.
Lyra chose a bow that was a great conductor for her shadow magic and when the arrows were imbued she could create a smokescreen of sorts and many other things that could prove useful.
Elaris chose a type of scimitar that looked like it was made completely out of the roots of a tree, but the 'roots' were actually a kind of sheath that would retract and reveal a pristine white blade when imbued with mana.
Rin chose a basic looking black staff with a black orb on top that enhanced her illusion magic.
Saya found a pair of red-gold gauntlets and boots that enhanced her physical capabilities and sound magic.
I let everyone else go ahead as I could most likely use every weapon in the crate with ease, but when I looked down at its contents, I saw a peculiar black sheath that shone with a blueish light. I fished through the pile of weapons and finally caught hold of the black sheath and pulled it out to reveal a beautiful katana with a black handle with blue wrappings, and a black sheath with the carving of a man with a crown of horns that poked out of the top of his head. However, when I unsheathed the katana, the blade was a mixture of white and black with symbols on the side that read 'The King's Fang'. I looked up at Magna and saw his brow raised with his eyes glowing purple as he scanned the katana, his face full of intrigue. I sheathed the katana and strapped it to my waist, a weird sense of 'completion' passing through me momentarily.
"Well, now that you all are suited up, shall we get down to business?"